"I like going to school because I can learn a lot of knowledge." At Jiuquan Guanzhi Township Tibetan Central Primary School in Guazhou County, Ma Rong, who was funded by the "Armed Police Spring Bree Scholarship", raised her hand to answer the teacher's questions.
Liu Ying is a class teacher at the Tibetan Central Primary School in Guangzhi Township, Guazhou County, Jiuquan, Gansu. In Liu Ying's impression, Ma Rong's class is the most special class she has encountered since she started working as a class teacher in 2008. Among the 23 students in the class, there are orphans, left-behind children, and many children from poor families.
Ma Rong is one of the children of poor family background that Liu Ying calls. Ma Rong, six years old this year, lives with her parents, brother and grandparents in Xinbao Village, not far from the school. In this unified and uniform immigrant village, the gate of the Ma family lacks the grand marble structure, which makes it a bit abrupt.
Guazhou County is a key county for immigration resettlement in Gansu Province. In 2008, Ma Rong's parents Ma Deyu and Song Xiaoxia responded to the government's call and became immigrants in the Jiudianxia Reservoir Area. Their family moved from Shimen Township, Lintan County, Gannan Prefecture to Guangzhi Tibetan Township.
When I first moved from the mountainous area where I relied on the weather, the family didn't see much hope. The land is seriously damaged by saline and alkaline slabs, and the 15 acres of arable land that the family has allocated for several years but has not been able to make ends meet. Faced with barren land that needs to be improved year by year before normal seedling conditions are achieved, and facing the raging wind and sand in the desert, the family's life is difficult.
Ma Deyu is a carpenter. As the backbone of the family, he often goes to the county town to work and make a living. In June 2015, Ma Deyu, who was rushing to work, had a car accident and had a comminuted fracture of his right leg. After three surgeries and five steel nails were applied to the legs, Ma Deyu could only walk on the bed and sofa at home, and began a long recovery process.
surgery cost the Ma family more than 60,000 yuan, and another more than 10,000 yuan was spent on a lawsuit. In order to supplement the family income, Ma Deyu's father, Ma Wu, who was nearly 60 years old, also went to the county to work and lay bricks for people. While Song Xiaoxia manages the 15 acres of cotton land at home, she also has to use her spare time to do odd jobs such as picking up wolfberry. The whole family worked hard and barely maintained an annual income of 15,000 yuan.
"In the cotton harvest season, she has to go to the field at six in the morning and come back at nine in the evening. Thank you very much." Ma Deyu knew that it was not easy for his wife.
In Ma Rong's eyes, mother is very busy every day, she has to go to the field, work, cook, do housework, and take care of her father. Ma Rong and her brother Ma Bin, who is six years older than her, naturally took on the heavy responsibility of sharing housework, cleaning the house, cleaning pots, and sorting the kang... During the holidays, the two brothers and sisters would also go to the fields to help with farm work.
The class teacher Liu Ying felt that because of his family background, Ma Rong was more sensible than many children in the class. Ma Rong always does a good job without urging her to do it. "She will take the initiative to do the tasks I have not assigned. I forgot many things myself, and Ma Rong reminded me." Liu Ying said with a little surprise.
This introverted little girl is very serious in her studies and always ranks in the top two in the class in math grades. "I like going to school because I can learn a lot of knowledge." In addition to mathematics, Ma Rong's favorite thing is painting. On Ma Rong's wild and wild painting, the blue whale is painted with red lips, and the crab's shell is bright yellow. She has only seen these animals in books.
Ma Rong doesn’t have much entertainment. Apart from playing hide-and-seek with her friends, she likes to watch a live game about dinosaurs on TV. But Ma Rong has to use a computer to play games. Without a computer, she has never had a practical battle. Ma Rong said that the animal she likes is Tyrannosaurus Rex, but she has only seen it in the game. Ma Rong seemed particularly excited when she heard that she could see the "real" dinosaurs in the movie "Jurassic Park".
Ma Deyu seems very satisfied with his daughter's enthusiasm for learning. He hopes that both brothers and sisters can get into a good school, get out of Guazhou , and even get out of Gansu. Although Ma Rong and his brother have been to the farthest place, it is only the hospital where Ma Deyu had surgery in , , Jiuquan City.
Two years after the car accident, Ma Deyu's legs were basically healed. He left the crutch a month ago and began to think that he could go to work early.Because his son Ma Bin will go to middle school next year, he will spend at least two or three thousand yuan a month. "As long as the children are willing to study, I will support them to go to school," said Ma Deyu.
In 2016, the Ma family became a registered poor household. A family of six can enjoy a Class II minimum living allowance of 1,710 yuan per month. In 2017, Ma Rong received the grant from the "Armed Police Spring Bree Scholarship". In addition to the 2,000 yuan condolence fund, she also received a "HELLO" child love package, which contains brushes, umbrellas, harmonica and other learning and daily necessities. Ma Rong, who was the first time she saw the harmonica, was very happy. She hoped that the uncles and aunts of the "Armed Police Spring Bree Scholarship" could come to see her often.
"Armed Police Spring Bree Scholarship" is a targeted poverty alleviation project jointly launched by the All-China Women's Federation, the People's Armed Police Force of China, and the China Children and Youth Foundation to address the education issues of children in poor areas. Since its implementation in 1997, the officers and soldiers of the armed police have donated a total of 58.43 million yuan to build 13 "Armed Police Spring Bree Hope School", 52 "Children's Happy Homes" and 12 "Armed Police Multimedia Classrooms and Library", helping more than 11,832 spring bud girls like Ma Rong complete their studies, helping 20,000 infants and young children improve their anemia nutrition status, and distributing 5,000 "HELLO" children's love packages to poor children.
What makes the head teacher Liu Ying happy is that not only the students in her class who have difficulties in their families received funding, but a total of 100 students from the school received the Spring Bree Scholarship for the Armed Police, and 200 students received the love package. "These funding is really precious, and children will also feel love and warmth," said Liu Ying. (Text/Dong Xiaodi Photo/Chen Weisong)
Xinbao Village, Guangzhi Tibetan Township, Guazhou County, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province is an immigrant village. Guazhou County is a key county for resettlement in Gansu Province. In 2008, Ma Rong's parents Ma Deyu and Song Xiaoxia responded to the government's call and became immigrants in the Jiudianxia Reservoir Area of the Taoyuan Project. Their family moved here from Shimen Township, Lintan County, Gannan Prefecture.
Guangzhi Township Tibetan Central Primary School classroom, a coal stove and a kettle for heating are placed. The head teacher Liu Ying said that among the 23 students in the class, there are orphans, left-behind children, and many children from poor families.
Six-year-old Ma Rong raised her hand to answer the teacher's questions. This introverted little girl is very serious in her studies and always ranks in the top two in the class in math grades. "I like going to school because I can learn a lot of knowledge."
In addition to mathematics, Ma Rong's favorite thing is painting. On Ma Rong's wild and wild painting, the blue whale has red lips and the crab's shell is bright yellow. She has only seen these animals in books.
Ma Rong has never left Gansu. The farthest place she and her brother Ma Bin have been to is the hospital in Jiuquan City where her father Ma Deyu had surgery after a car accident.
Ma Rong's brother and sixth-grade Ma Bin are taking mathematics classes. On the contrary to his sister, Ma Bin prefers Chinese classes and has average math grades.
When school is over at noon, the brother and sister line up at the school gate.
Ma Rong's home is not far from the school, and she walks about five minutes.
Mother Song Xiaoxia welcomed Ma Rong at the door of her house. Song Xiaoxia is managing 15 acres of cotton land at home, and she also has to use her spare time to do odd jobs such as picking up wolfberry.
Song Xiaoxia prepares lunch in the kitchen, and Ma Bin chats with her parents. "In the cotton harvest season, she has to go to the field at 6 a.m. and not come back at 9 p.m. It's very hard." Ma Deyu said that it's not easy for her wife.
In June 2015, Ma Deyu had a car accident and had a comminuted fracture of his right leg. He underwent three surgeries and five steel nails were injected into his leg. Two years after the car accident, Ma Deyu's legs were basically healed. He left the crutch a month ago and began to think that he could go to work early.
The family was having lunch, and the two children without a cell phone looked at the mother using the cell phone curiously. Ma Rong said that her mother is very busy every day, she has to go to the field, work, cook, do housework, and take care of her injured father.
A pot of fried potato shreds and two buns is the lunch of this family. In 2016, the Ma family became a registered poor household. A family of six can enjoy a Class II minimum living allowance of 1,710 yuan per month.
Ma Bin was responsible for cleaning the pot after eating. During the busy farming holidays, the two brothers and sisters will also go to the fields to help with farm work.
Ma Rong wrote the homework questions assigned by the teacher in the morning on the kang. Ma Deyu is very satisfied with his daughter's enthusiasm for learning. He hopes that both brothers and sisters can get into good schools and leave Guazhou and even Gansu.
On the roof of the resettlement house of Ma’s family, poverty alleviation photovoltaic power generation board is installed, enjoying more than 2,000 yuan in income every year.
In 2017, Ma Rong received the grant from the "Armed Police Spring Bree Scholarship". In addition to the 2,000 yuan condolence fund, she also received a "HELLO" child love package, which contains brushes, umbrellas, harmonica and other learning and daily necessities.
"Armed Police Spring Bree Scholarship" is a targeted poverty alleviation project jointly launched by the All-China Women's Federation, the People's Armed Police Force of China, and the China Children and Youth Foundation to address the issue of children's education in poverty-stricken areas. Since its implementation in 1997, the "Armed Police Spring Breed Scholarship" has helped more than 11,832 spring bud girls like Ma Rong complete their studies.
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text | Dong Xiaodi
photography | Chen Weisong
